The board? Who do you think is driving the changes?
It's a carrot or stick thing. Mr. CEO play along -- RIF people -- and we'll make you rich. Don't play along, you're gone and we'll get someone who will.
My son works for Pepsico (Frito-Lay) -- exact same playbook. Recently someone posted information about how IBM -- once again, exactly the same.
This is coming from board down. It's all calculated to make a few rich, while destroying a company and selling it off, bit by bit. I'm sure it's taught in the "prestigious" business schools.
They make calculations based on how much their customers will endure. "Cut 50% of customer support, maybe we lose 25 to 30% of our customer base. Cut more employees -- accept more customer loss. Eventually sell off anything profitable, we can, "because -- gee whiz -- it's no longer profitable".
I worked for XO Communications. We were $2 Billion in debt. Icahn bought us out of debt, free and clear. His only stipulation is that HE got to claim the debt to reduce HIS taxes.
These people find ways to make more money failing companies than they do on thriving ones. They don't think the way normal human beings think.